A portion of a hospital devoted to providing skilled nursing care, rather than acute care. To qualify as an SNU, the unit must have an organized professional staff including medical and nursing professionals, and meet the other social and health needs of patients who do not require acute hospital care, but who do need professional nursing care as inpatients. An SNU typically must have on-site registered nurse (RN) supervision for at least two nursing shifts each day. Patients may be discharged from an acute hospital and then admitted to its SNU. A free-standing facility offering the same care skilled nursing care is called a “skilled nursing facility” (SNF). Formerly called “extended care unit” (ECU).